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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

So, I decided to make this kind of unofficially 4th of July mani week. I don't know if I'll manage the entire week LOL, but so far starting with my marble I have managed to keep to a red, white & blue color scheme. Although this particular mani uses just the red, I think the holo glitter makes it holiday appropriate =)

Ulta Bombshell is a cherry red jelly with holo glitter throughout. Pictured is 3 coats, I can see VNL at certain angles so it probably would have benefited from a 4th coat, but it wasn't super-noticeable & I enjoyed it all day ... even though I was wearing this on Monday when I broke my nail. It was horrible ... and yes I took pics =) I have a naked nail post in the works, but I'm going to post the stash first. Anyway, pics:

Saturday, June 26, 2010

I wanted to do something for the 4th, and also to play with a new marbling technique that makes stripes in the water that I discovered while experimenting. I really like how this turned out, although I did get some bubbling ... not sure if that was because I was doing 2 nails at a time or what, because the nails with the least bubbles are my thumbs, which I did individually.

I used all Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear colors - Cherry Red, Blue It & White On. I picked up the red maybe a week ago at Target specifically to use for this actually. My favorite nails for this marble are the thumbs, not just because they don't have bubbles but the stripes are the best:

I was going to redo my middle right because it came out crooked & everything else was even but in the end I just left it & funny enough I got lots of compliments on that particular nail LOL, so maybe I'll see about doing a mani where all the nails aim for that part of the design.

Here is the tutorial:

One note, that I forgot to talk about in the tutorial, is that in this case it really does make a difference the order you drip the polish. I originally tried blue > red > white > repeat & the red bled into the white & turned it pink (below left). So I switched the order to red > blue > white (below right) & the white stayed white. Once again, water marbling takes PRACTICE! I know I don't show my marbling fails very often but please believe they happen LOL. Thankfully they usually happen when I'm practicing on paper & not actually when I'm doing a manicure:

I am fast approaching my 500th post! & really, what better way to celebrate than stash pics? =) The Zoyas pushed me over the 1,000 bottle mark. I'll be taking a ton of pics, and maybe a video, although I'm doubtful my camera can handle that much moving around (because it sucks ... because there is no refocusing, zooming or anything else once you start recording ...) so that may need to wait until I buy a new camera or even a digital camcorder. I haven't quite decided yet, I'm trying to educate myself LOL so I actually get something good. Any suggestions you want to drop in comments or email would be appreciated =)

Before I get to the pics, I'd just like to touch on just a couple things I learned doing the exchange:

#1 - shipping polish is hard. Well, maybe not hard but annoyingly rule-bound. How do you people who do swaps - especially international ones - handle it? I went to the post office to ask what I had to do, and you have to mark the box specially, it has to go ground, not air since it's "hazardous," and they told me they won't ship internationally. Are Fed-Ex & UPS different? What a freaking hassle. BUT:

#2 - I don't know why I don't see more people talking about the donation option of the swap? You don't HAVE to mail your polish to Zoya. It states in the exchange rules (once you actually start the exchange, not just on the front kind of promotion page): "The Zoya Nail Polish Exchange is simple. Just gather your old used or unused bottles of nail polish (any brand) that are laying around, collecting dust and send them to us or donate them. In exchange we will send you an equal number of brand new Zoya Nail Polishes. All you pay is $3.50 per bottle for shipping and processing. There is a minimum of 6 bottles and no maximum (exchange or donate as many bottles as you want as often as you would like). We will send out your new polish immediately, you can donate or send us your old polish anytime" I also emailed them, asking if it made any difference where the donation is made & if they require anything sent in as proof of the donation. This is the response I got:

"Hello Colette:

Thank you for your interest in the Polish Exchange! You can donate the polishes where ever you would like if you do not want to send them in for us to dispose of properly. Many people are donating to the Salvation Army, women’s shelters, girl scout troops, etc. We do not need proof of donation. Your order will automatically be processed once submitted if you are paying by credit card. If you are paying with a check, your order will be processed once we receive confirmation that the check has cleared.

Thank you"

So, I'm saving myself the cost & hassle of mailing in my 12 bottles & I'm going to donate them. It's almost too easy - seems like this would leave the way open for a lot of scammers? I may even do another order before the end of the month since I saved money on the shipping.

Anyway ... on to the polish! That's what you're really here, for right?

Since I only took one pic of the haul, I thought I'd post up a couple of bonus pics. Frisky, in the middle of polish-land between my untried shoeboxes & my Helmers:

And the sky last night, after a series of quite serious severe storms the sky was still doing some pretty ominous-looking cool stuff:

That's all for now. Going to try & get the pics of the 4th of July water marble edited... At this point I'm actually finding editing the videos for YT easier than the pics LOL, because it's just the video & like 2 pics, vs. all the pic reviewing, picking & choosing, cropping & etc that goes with a full blog post. So if I don't get it up tonight, if you would like a preview, you can check out the tutorial on YouTube HERE.

Friday, June 25, 2010

LOL I really shouldn't be posting one of my new Zoyas before I even post the haul in its entirety ... but I haven't taken pictures of them all together yet. I got my package Wednesday (after placing the order just Friday I'd like to add) & so did my nails that evening with Zoya Mimi - from this summer's Sparkle collection - to wear on Thursday. This is a little bit more red-toned IRL, but I was surprised what a decent job my camera did capturing this purple:

Such a great polish! It's like a glass-flecked foil finish, which sounds awesome & lives up to it. I will take pics of the rest of my Zoya haul & get those up ASAP, promise - and it's the weekend, so I have no excuse! Well, except for 2 really good books, but I will resist them until blog-related responsibilities are cared for. I also have a 4th of July water marble with tutorial to post up ... progress on all will depend on when exactly sleep overwhelms me.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I picked up a lot of mint greens over the spring. I still have several to work through, but I really like this one. It went on kind of craptastic, but Seche leveled everything out for the most part. I've read that it's close to being a dupe for Chanel Jade but as I have absolutely nothing Chanel I can neither confirm or deny from personal experience =)

I wore Claire's Dream Catch plain the first day. It has a very subtle shimmer that doesn't show up very well in pics:

Second day I added some Konad. Why isn't there a Konad or fauxnad creeping vine design? Or maybe (probably) there's one out there & I just don't have it. Then again, I'm always coming up with lists of things I wish I had a stamping plate for. Anyway, this design was closest to what I wanted. Konad plate m73 & Green Special Polish:

Also, I got my Zoya exchange haul in the mail today!!! Not sure if I'll get pics up tonight but they're coming soon! Thanks for reading.

Seems like it's been forever since I've had any pics of Mom's nails to post. Not that she hasn't been doing her nails, just that she kept wearing polish I'd already recently worn & posted LOL. Today she has on something from the unworn mountain - Sally Hansen Dive Deeper:

Above is 2 coats - she's not quite happy with how sheer it is so she's planning a third coat later tonight. Thanks for reading =)

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

That's all tonight. Was really hot today & I'm just exhausted. I'm going to add some Konad to my current mani & I'll try to get pics of both versions up tomorrow. I also still want to do the blue marble I postponed, something for the 4th - before the actual day in case anyone would like to use the idea =) - and another water marble idea that's floating around in my head. Thanks for reading.

Monday, June 21, 2010

I don't know why I picked orange again... one of my least favorite colors. But it caught my eye, and I quite like it - except for the fact that it is a jelly, and after 3 rather generous coats I still have VNL (visible nail line). So, to disguise things, I grabbed a Bundle Monster plate & stamped with Red Konad Special Polish & bm11. The natural lamp shot is most color accurate, but I think the jelly finish really shows most in the sunlight:

Saturday, June 19, 2010

This wasn't my original color scheme, but I like it =) For Polish Hoarder Disorder's Analogous Color Challenge, I chose yellow, yellow-orange & orange - Sally Hansen Hue, Orly Glitz (which standing alone I would call gold, but which fit the bill for yellow-orange when paired with the other 2 colors), & China Glaze Free Love:

Mmmm, swirly goodness =) Here is the tutorial:

And last, a bonus pic for my animal-loving readers - you may be familiar with Monorail Cat of LOLcats fame. Well, Frisky does a pretty good impression:

My cute little old princess (she is 19). Seems like all she ever does is sleep but it's usually close to where I am. If you listen carefully, you can hear her waking up shortly after I took this pic & meowing in the background of the tutorial LMAO. Thanks for reading.

I wouldn't normally reach for an orange for my toes, but I did this when I was doing my Fireball Water Marble so I kind of subconsciously picked it to match. Base color is China Glaze Drive In, from the Retro Diva collection. I topped it with Sally Hansen Hidden treasure just because I could =) It's not super-noticeable, but just adds a little glimmer most of the time:

Going to finish editing the marble picks & get those up, next. Thanks for reading.

Was going to use this in my entry for PHD's challenge this week, but it didn't work out. I wanted to do yellow, yellow-green, green, and in the end decided this is more of a blue-green. I ended up going yellow, yellow-orange, orange, and that fantastic creation will be up later =)

From the Ultra HD line, this is Sally Hansen Resolution. From certain angles it has almost a flash of like pinkish duo-chrome, but it was really hard to capture in pics. I got a little of it in the last pic but it doesn't do it justice. And yes, that little ding on my middle nail bugged me ALL DAY LONG but I did this right before bed & did not have time in the morning to fix it =( I tried not to let it ruin my enjoyment of the color LOL, I really did like how vibrant this was: